Car-coupling



(No Model.)

I. KLING.

GAR COUPLING.

No. 467,418. Patented Jan. 19, 1892.

main 5."

To all whom it may concern.-

' twin-jaw couplings; and its object is to UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

- ISAAC KLING, OF LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 467,418, dated January 19, 1892..

Application filed May 29, 1891. Serial No. 394,578. (No model.)

Be it known that I, ISAAC KLING, of Louisville, in the county of Jefferson and State of Kentucky, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in OarCouplings; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is a view of a car'coupling, showing my improvements. Fig. 2 is a bottom plan View showing two couplings coupled. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view on line a m, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 shows a modified manner of attaching the swinging loop to the drawbar. Fig. 5 shows the loop attached to the hook.

This invention is an improvement in auto matic car-couplings,being especially designed for use in connection with what are known as provide improved means by which, if for any reason one hook or draw-bar should be accidentally detached from the car to which it is connected while it is coupled to another coupling, it will be upheld by such other coupling and suspended above the road-bed, thereby preventing its falling upon the track and the consequent danger or liability to cause accidents resulting therefrom. The invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of the devices, as hereinafter specified.

Referring to the drawings by letters, A designates a draw-bar of the twin-jaw type, and B the swinging hook or jaw pivoted to the mouth thereof, and preferably constructed similarly to those shown and described in my patents, Nos. 361,165, 409,045, 396,878, and 396,879. The hooks, however, have a central recess or notch B in their points or lookingfaces and a transverse lug B about in line with said recess and narrower, formed at the junction of the shank and hook proper, on the inner face thereof, so that when two jaws are interlocked,.as shown in Fig. 2, the lugs 13 will enter the recesses 13 of the opposite hooks, thus interlocking them, as indicated in Fig. 3, so that While the hooks are locked they cannot be separated or slid apart by moving them either up or down in relation to each other, although they have a sufficient amount of vertical play to answer all the requirements of use.

0 designates a swinging loop lying transversely of the draw-bar and beneath the mouth thereof, being preferably suspended from the draw-bar in such manner that it can oscillate longitudinally of the bar. As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, the loop has its ends a c upturned and pivotally connected to lugs or cars a a, depending from the bottom of draw-bar, so that the horizontal portion of the loop extends beneath the hooks of the coupling when interlocked, as shown in Fig. 2. The loop depends sufficiently below the hooks to allow ample vertical play thereon in relation to each other and to permit couplings standing at diflferent levels in relation to each other to be interlocked without injury to the loop, and in coupling, if one hook be so low as to strike the loop 0, it will yield and swing inward be neath the draw-bar and will drop out underneath the hook as the couplings adjust themselves to each other. When the coupling is completed, the loop underlies the interlocked hooks, as shown in Fig. 2, so that if either hook or hook and draw-bar connected thereto, &c., be broken from the car it will be upheld by the opposite draw bar, hook, and loop 0, which will prevent the broken or detached hook or draw-bar falling vertically out of engagenient with the other hook. By this means the danger of wrecking trains by rea son of accidental breaking away of the coupling from its fastenings and its falling upon the track is obviated.

In Fig. 4, instead of suspending the hook from lugs formed beneath the draw-bar one of its ends is bent inward at its extremity and loosely riveted in a perforation a in side lip of the draw-bar, and the extremity of its other end is bent outward and passed through a hole in the lower end of the bolt D, which pivots the hook B in the drawbar.

In Fig. 5 the loop is attached to the hook, being suspended between the point and heel thereof, as shown, so that its lower portion would underlie the point of another hook when two are coupled. \Vhen coupled to an ordinary coupling-hook not provided with a lug B or recess B, the loops will effectually prevent accidental dropping of one hook from the other when coupled, the loops being easily attached to all twin-jaw couplings now in use.

Having described my invention, What I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent thereon, is-

1. The combination, in a twin-jaw car-coupling, of two draw-bars and swinginghooks, constructed substantially as described, with links pivotally suspended from each draw-bar so as to underlie the hooks when coupled and adapted to swing freely beneath the drawbar, as and for the purpose specified.

2. The combination, in a twin-jaw coupling, of the draw-bars and the swinging hooks having lugs and recesses on their lockingfaces adapted to interlock when the hooks are coupled, so as to prevent vertical disengagement of the same, substantially as specified.

3. The combination, with the draw-bar, of a swinging hook having a recess in its point and a lug formed on its inner face at the junction thereof with the shank, said recess and lug being adapted to engage the lug and recess of a similar hook when coupled therewith, substantially as specified.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ISAAC KLING.

Witnesses:

JNO. H. KLUMPP, SPALDING COLEMAN. 

